I am a writer.
Or maybe a writer-in-training, but I write. Quite a bit. I think about writing. I dream about writing and then I write down dreams for future writing ideas. I read about writing. Actually, I read about a lot of other things too but this seemed to go along with my theme. Most of the time I’d rather be writing. I’ve been pretty busy the last year and a half with grad school, a full time job, obedience and agility classes for my dog, Sami, and just trying to keep up with everything else. Writing has been put on the back burner for those spare 5 minutes where my brain explodes on paper. But now, in my one month of summer break from school before the mad dash for the end, I just can’t seem to sit down and write. It’s not like I’ve got writer’s block, if you believe in that sort of thing. I know what is supposed to happen in the story. I can see it like a movie. Well, maybe a muted movie. I just can’t give myself the time or mindset to actually write it down.
Some people give the advice to just work on something else. So I’ve thought about working on another story but none of them peak my interest. Same problem. I just can’t sit down and work. Instead, I become very interested in all the lovely websites that I don’t have any true interest in or perhaps I dust off that hobby I haven’t looked at in a few years. Sitting down and staring at a computer or a blank piece of paper is just not what my brain or body wants to do.
I give a lot of advice to friends about their writing and it usually makes sense and they say it’s good advice, whether they take it is another matter. I always find it funny when they give my advice back to me. I then proceed to mumble and grumble, change the subject, and oh look! Some shiny little bobble that needs fixing or my dog needs to go for a walk. I guess my procrastination is at least healthy in that chores have a possibility of getting done. But what about my story that I’ve put so much time and care into? I love my characters and I love the lands they travel through and their discoveries and adventures because in essence, they are also my discoveries and adventures.
So my goal for the week, after the cat is brushed and I have walked my dog numerous times, after I have done laundry and folded clothes and done a bit of house cleaning, perhaps I can convince myself that it is time for my two main characters to have that serious conversation they’ve been waiting to have for the last semester. Perhaps I can take a couple hours, in a dark secluded back bedroom or drive the fifteen minutes to the coffee house and actually pin myself down to a not-so-comfortable chair and just write. At least today I have taken the initiative to set a coffee house writing date with a friend.
How about you? What do you do when you have writer’s block? Feel free to comment and ask questions.
I am not a writer, but my brother is. He often does short writing exercises from a creative writing book he got in college to help with writer’s block. Or more accurately, to get in the mood to write. Maybe you could host a short writing assignment-a-thon.
I would love to know the name of the book your brother uses. I think I need some more exercise books.
You are a writer. Simple as that. Don’t be afraid just let flow just like you did right now. Glad you started a blog doll!
Thanks friend!